


Puppy Love

by benschwartz



Category: Space Force (TV)
Genre: ADHD Tony, Angst, Boys In Love, Breakup Fic, Domesticity, Fluff sorta, Happy Ending, M/M, her name is aurora barkealis, shared custody of the dog, they have a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29130432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benschwartz/pseuds/benschwartz
Summary: Chan and Tony break up because they have a fight about Tony's irresponsibility. Their custody arrangement for their dog isn't really working out.
Relationships: Chan Kaifang/F. Tony Scarapiducci
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Puppy Love

Tony wasn’t trying to make their breakup more difficult than it had to be, but he was willing to go to court for custody of his and Chan’s dog. Aurora Barkealis, or Aurora for short, was the second best thing that had ever happened to Tony, aside from Chan, and he wasn’t going to lose both of them at once. Without the two of them, his bed would be too cold, his days would be empty, he would lose the will to go on. Maybe he was being dramatic, but it felt like he would collapse in on himself like a neuron star and take everyone who got too close down with him. 

“Why do you have to be so fucking insufferable,” Chan yelled as he continued to pack his things. They had broken up a day ago and the scientist had already found a new apartment to call home. Tony pretended that it didn’t hurt his feelings.

“I’m not trying to be, I just want my dog,” Tony yelled back, following Chan around the house as Aurora followed behind him. They had been ducks in a row for so long, following each other in and out of rooms and through hallways, weaving through doors like a Scooby Doo chase scene. Now it wasn’t so cute and funny.

“She’s my dog too.” Chan turned to face Tony, nearly causing him to crash into the shorter man. Tony took a step back to stop himself from pulling Chan against his chest and sobbing. Letting go was too hard. “You’re too irresponsible for a dog--”

“I am  _ not  _ irresponsible,” Tony defended himself, rolling his eyes to avoid looking at Chan’s. 

“Yes you fucking are, Tony! You make us late almost every morning, you forget to pay bills, you forget to feed the dog, you forget to water my plants, you lose every important piece of paper I’ve ever handed you, you won’t leave me alone when I’m working--living with you is suffocating!” Chan took a deep breath and closed his eyes before continuing. “ _ Being  _ with you is suffocating. I can’t handle it. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to point out all of my fucking imperfections! Why did you even date me if I annoy you so goddamn much?” 

“I don’t know! I wish I hadn’t,” Chan’s voice quickly fell and he averted his eyes.

“Chan…” Tony didn’t know what to say. All of those things were true, but he couldn’t really help them. Maybe he could, but he didn’t know how. His ADHD made responsibility difficult, but he figured that wasn’t an excuse for being a bad boyfriend. “Please just let me have the dog.” Tony’s eyes were closed now, afraid he would let his hurt spill from his eyes.

“Fine. Bring her to my apartment next week and we’ll switch. I know you won’t remember, so I’ll text you. Do not text me.” The bite behind his words was venomous, and Tony felt all the life drain from his body accordingly. His eyes stayed closed as Chan slammed the door shut and drove off, and the moment he heard Aurora whine by his feet, he collapsed to the ground in a fit of sobs and gasps.

Aurora climbed into Tony’s lap, allowing the man to sob into her brown fur. Nearly two hours passed before he got up from the floor, and when he did his back ached like he was 40, though he supposed 36 wasn’t far off. A bitter chuckle escaped him at that. Here he was: 36, irresponsible, and newly single. Maybe he would go back to the college lifestyle or have a good old fashioned mid-life crisis. 

Tony sat on the couch with a hefty sigh, looking everywhere for the remote before deciding to just sit in silence and stare at the wall. Aurora whined from the door, catching his attention, and he watched as the beagle shuffled her feet and wagged her tail. When Tony looked at the clock, he realized it was 6:00pm, just after dinner time.

“Oh, that’s right,” Tony smiled sadly at the dog. “Papa usually takes you out after dinner. Well, your dear old dad fucked that right up, didn’t he, Aurora?” The beagle barked and paced impatiently. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.” 

The sky was darker than usual, and not a single star shone in the night. Tony could make out the faint glow of the moon from behind the grey clouds, but he felt a tinge of sadness knowing that the stars were hiding as well. The wind blew gently, and though it wasn’t freezing, it was cold enough that Tony regretted not putting on a jacket before he stepped outside. Aurora seemed to be upset with the weather as well, her cries getting louder as she waddled down the sidewalk, sniffing for a place to relieve herself.

Tony was growing impatient and cold, and the bumps that rose on his skin made him shiver. How Chan did this happily every night, he didn’t know. Maybe the universe opened up the sky and the dog didn’t complain when he was walking her. If Tony had any say, he would make Chan’s life full of cosmic coincidence and pleasant serendipity. Now he couldn’t even brighten up his day through sheer force, there was no room to, and he wouldn’t cross boundaries. Chan’s happiness was all that mattered to him. 

When he finally returned to the warmth of his house, the emptiness of it truly hit him. This house was paid for with plans for a future, with indefinite love and intent. Tony absently remembered their first night here, lying in bed, holding each other, and talking about growing old together. They would get a dog and paint the guest room yellow for their future child, and Chan would struggle to stick glow in the dark stars on the ceiling even with a step ladder. They would make pancakes and have cookouts, go on family vacations and host birthday parties, have movie nights and petty fights about which Star Wars movie was the best, and most of all they would love each other forever. Tony didn’t even notice he was crying until his tears dripped down his neck and tickled his throat, he was just so lost in the memories and the future he and Chan had imagined together that he had left reality for a moment.

That night Tony slept on the couch with Aurora cuddled close to him. At least she wasn’t gone for good.

☆

The work week was awkward, but Chan and Tony had had enough sense to avoid each other. There were unavoidable instances of being in the same room together, and when they would catch each other looking, they would feel those first week butterflies and that final fight heartbreak all at once. Tony thought it would make him throw up. Chan pretended his blush wasn’t obvious, but Mallory would look at him like he was an idiot every time he and Tony made eye contact. They looked at each other far more than they thought they did, but the familiar habit was hard to lose. Chan was so used to looking at Tony when he wasn’t paying attention, which was often, but now he couldn’t look away because he didn’t know when he would see him again. 

“Hey,” Tony said breathily. “Uhm, I’m bringing Aurora over tonight, just text me your address.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t forget.” Chan couldn’t help but be cold. This was how he kept his distance, this was how he kept himself from telling Tony he missed him more than anything. 

“Yeah, me too.” The truth was that Tony had been looking forward to it all week. As pathetic as he knew it was, he was excited to see Chan, even if it was just to give him their dog. It hurt to know that she was the only thing holding them together, as if they were divorced parents sharing custody of their daughter. Tony realized he had been standing and staring for far too long, so he cleared his throat and straightened up. “Anyway, I’ll see you later. I… bye.”

Leaving as quickly as possible, it dawned on Tony that he almost said he loved Chan. That might have been a disaster. Good thing he was basically trained in damage control, or at least that’s what he told himself every time he fucked up. This time he’d fucked up too much for damage control.

Tony clocked out earlier than Chan, but he was no stranger to waiting for the scientist. About halfway to the lab, Tony realized what he was doing and turned around, instead walking to his car and driving back home. It didn’t quite feel like home without Chan, though. 

It took twenty minutes to gather Aurora’s things into a bag, but Tony spent another hour pacing around the house. It was 5:15pm by the time his phone pinged with the ringtone Tony had specifically for Chan: the Kim Possible beep. Chan had admitted he loved the cartoon when he was in college, and he would play it while he studied, which Tony had found infinitesimally adorable. Now his heart clenched at the sound as he eagerly scrambled for his phone, and he didn’t know why his hands were so shaky and his pulse was racing.

Tony nearly forgot the dog in his haste, immediately getting in his car and typing Chan’s new address into the GPS. Aurora was excited to sit in the passenger’s seat for once, and she panted happily, completely unaware and totally blissful. Tony was envious. He was pretty sure he broke a few traffic laws, too, but it’s not like there were many people driving through the desert in Wild Horse. Chan would scold him for being dangerous, though, so he slowed down and tried to ignore that feeling in his bones that made him want to put the pedal to the metal and see Chan sooner.

When he finally arrived, he almost didn’t want to get out of the car, but he had already texted Chan that he was here, and it was too late to change his name and move to Mexico. (He had actually looked into it, but it seemed more trouble than it was worth.)

Instead of running, Tony braved his fears and grabbed their beagle puppy from the passenger seat, carrying her in his arms and a backpack full of food and toys on his back. Maybe Tony was irresponsible, but he cared about this dog more than anything. Except Chan. If he was honest though, he cared about them as a family, and knowing that they were now a broken home made his knees wobble as he knocked on the door.

Chan answered with a completely neutral face and immediately took the dog from Tony. The taller man couldn’t help but stare at him in his t-shirt and underwear. Tony distantly noticed that Chan was wearing one of his old t-shirts from when he worked for Snapchat. It was a heinous yellow and entirely too big, but they made Tony wear it as a paid intern, so it smelled of his cologne and false confidence. It was Chan’s favorite to wear to bed. Tony didn’t mention it.

“Thanks.” Chan turned and sat her inside, and Tony felt guilty for checking him out when he bent over. “I… hope you’re okay, Fuck Tony.” A dry chuckle came from Tony, though he hadn’t meant for it to.

“Yeah. Sure. Here’s her stuff.” Tony felt ridiculous. This was the man he knew better than anyone else, who knew him better than anyone else, and they were acting like strangers. It was cold. Tony couldn’t stand up straight. “I know you’ll take good care of her, but I want you to know I fed and walked her twice a day all week. I’m not as useless as you think.”

“I never said you were useless.”

“Yeah, yeah. But it felt like it.” Tony looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. It was silent for a long time before he looked up, and Chan was still standing there, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly and eyes dazed. “I’ll see you next week. You know where it is. Uhm. Bye.”

Tony quickly walked to his car as Chan shut the door and leaned against it. While Tony was yelling and hitting his hands on the steering wheel, Chan was sinking to the floor and inhaling the shirt that still smelled like Tony and his ridiculous cologne. Neither of them knew how to fix this, and they weren’t sure they could.

☆

Chan woke up to a warm body for the first time in a week. For a moment of bliss, he thought it was Tony, until he felt a wet nose and floppy ears. Nevertheless, he pulled Aurora closer and gave her a million kisses as she licked his arms and face. The loneliness was still there, but it was quelled for the time being now that he had his fur baby back. 

Aurora was quick to use the bathroom when Chan took her out, and for that he was grateful. The covers had been so comfortable that he overslept by half an hour and therefore only had an hour and 45 minutes to get to work. Breakfast was plain toast and OJ, his hair was brushed haphazardly, and toothpaste stained his work shirt. Such is life when you’re running late, he supposed. Such is life when it’s falling apart.

Before, he would enjoy his mornings with gratitude and domesticity. Tony would sing as he did his hair while Chan made breakfast for the two of them, and while Tony ate and took the dog out, Chan would get ready. Now his mornings were silent, busy, and kissless. More than anything he missed showering Tony with kisses all over his face to wake him up. He had once said that Chan was the best alarm clock he’d ever had, and he’d done it every morning since. Without Tony, Chan was just going through the motions of his day, barely enjoying his work, and feeling too lonely to think of anything else.

The car rides to the base were the worst. Normally ABBA would be blasting through the speakers as Tony danced, or they would listen to K-Pop and dance together. Now Chan found himself humming into the silence, an authentic sadness finding its way into the melody of The Winner Takes It All. That was probably the worst song to have stuck in his head right now as it pertained to his situation far too much. 

Thinking back to the fight, Chan regretted the things he said to Tony. The hurtful things he said might have been true, but that didn’t mean he had the right to insult Tony like that. Frustration was just bubbling beneath the surface, and Tony had let Chan’s prized plant die while he was away at a botany convention. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Chan knew Tony couldn’t help it that he was forgetful and clumsy, but it caused him so much agony because he couldn’t understand why he didn’t try to fix it. It occurred to him that it may have been one of those things they could have worked on together, creating methods to help Tony function better and make life easier for the both of them. A sigh escaped him. The damage had already been done. It was too late, and Chan couldn’t take it back. He felt like a proper dick. 

When he got to work, he could feel Tony’s eyes on him all day in the control room, but he was too ashamed to look back. If he avoided him, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much to know that it was his fault. Chan could apologize, but he was convinced it would do no good, so he kept his head down and tried to move on. 

Mallory was waiting for Chan when he returned to the lab, but he could tell that whatever he had to say was not related to his aloe hair-a plant. When he sat down next to the man, he prepared himself for the worst, because that seemed to be his luck recently. Instead, Mallory placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad smile.

“Have you spoken to Tony yet?” The slow cadence of his voice was comforting to Chan, and in that moment he felt genuinely cared for. Mallory seemed to truly want Chan to feel better, and Chan let himself show the emotion on his face, a deep frown setting into his quivering lips and tears teetering on the edges of his eyes.

“Yeah, just last night. He brought the dog over.”

“No, Chan. Have you  _ spoken  _ to him?” Chan looked down.

“We fought. I said some pretty bad things about stuff I know he’s insecure about because I knew it would hurt him. He let my Monstera  Adansonii Variegata die. Not on purpose, but I mean it really died, he didn’t water it once, and it was like $10,000. I got it years ago from a botany professor, and it was my prized possession, and I was so angry I left him.” Chan felt silly saying it out loud, but he felt hot tears pouring out of his eyes at the residual anger and fresh sadness. “I feel terrible. I don’t know what to do.”

Mallory hummed in thought, leaning back on his chair. “Perhaps it would be wise to have a conversation with him about how much it hurt you. Work on a solution together. Solve this problem like you would any other.” Mallory leaned in closer as if he were telling Chan the secrets of the universe and whispered, “Or I could give you the same Monstera I keep in my greenhouse, and you and Tony can work on his executive dysfunction together.”

“How did you know he--”

“Please, he’s riddled with attention deficits and hyperactivity. A blind man could see it.” Mallory offered a small smile and patted Chan’s shoulder before leaving the lab. 

Chan quickly wiped his tears from his face and tried to focus on work, but all he could think about was Tony. He would talk to him when he brought Aurora to his house, to their house. Chan’s name was still on the deed, and he honestly didn’t want to take it off. Thoughts of building a family with Tony invaded his mind and he truly longed for the solace he found in the promises they’d made for the future. More than anything, he longed to wake up next to Tony every morning and kiss his lips blue until little feet pitter pattered into their room and begged for breakfast, and not just the click of Aurora’s nails on the hardwood, but the giggles of a child echoing through their halls and filling their hearts. 

More than anything, he wanted Tony back.

☆

Weeks of trading Aurora went by before Chan got the nerve to have a conversation with Tony. On the sixth week, Chan asked if he could come in to talk when he handed the beagle to Tony. She was getting bigger every week, but she was also growing more anxious and depressed. Both men knew that she missed them being together, and they could tell she liked moving around even less than squirrels. (God, did she fucking hate squirrels.)

“So,” Tony said as he sat on the opposite end of the couch. There was so much distance between them it was ridiculous. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Aurora is depressed,” he said simply, looking over at the beagle lying in her bed. She whined at the both of them with big, sad eyes.

“Yeah. Are you suggesting one of us takes her?” Tony’s voice was even and clinical, something he had adopted around Chan only. This tone made an occasional appearance any time someone would ask him about Chan as well. 

Chan was quiet for a long time before he looked Tony in the eye, his face sad and full of regret. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said all of things about you.”

“They were true, so.”

“But I shouldn’t have made you feel bad.” Chan sighed. “I was angry about the plant, and I tend to overreact when I’m frustrated, and I’m sorry. I blew up on you. Instead of making you feel bad for those things, I should have helped you find ways to make them easier. You’re not irresponsible. You’re good at your job and you take good care of Aurora… and you took really good care of me.” Chan bit his lip, trying to keep himself from saying more, but he wanted Tony to know that he still cared.

“I’ve been doing better about it. I paid the bills all by myself and everything,” Tony’s voice was bitter, but Chan could tell he was really looking for validation.

“I’m proud of you.” He offered a closed smile. “And I miss you. A lot. I miss waking up with you and going to sleep with you and driving to work with you. I miss being with you, Tony. I was harsh and I took the lowest blow, and I’m really  _ really  _ sorry for leaving you over something so stupid. I mean, it was a $10,000 plant, but if I’m honest, you mean more to me than any plant or amount of money in the world. I just want to come back home with you… but I understand if I can’t fix it.”

Tony could only stare at Chan for a moment while he gathered his thoughts. “I miss you too. I wasn’t perfect either, I should’ve watered your plants, and I’m trying harder to be better at responsibility because I… I just really want to be the best man I can be for you, and I guess I thought if I could fix myself--”

“No, there’s nothing to fix.” Chan scooted closer to Tony and took his face in his hands. “You are perfect, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Says you,” Tony huffed and rolled his eyes, allowing himself to rest his forehead against Chan’s. “You’re my everything. I have been so empty without you here. I want to build a life with you, a family. I want to be a good husband and father, and most of all I want to be it with you. You’re it for me. I was starting to think I wasn’t it for you.”

“Of course you are. You make my days better. I seriously doubt I could have gone without touching you for one more second or living in that god forsaken apartment for one more day. It’s so quiet without you.” Tony smiled and brushed their noses together. “Besides, I think Aurora misses us. She’s sad without her dads together.”

Just then, Aurora jumped into their laps and began licking their faces. Both men began to laugh and play with their dog, howling at her and laughing harder when she howled back. When the excitement and giggles died down, Chan and Tony looked at each other with content smiles on their faces.

“Are we okay?” Tony asked carefully.

“I think we’re stronger now, actually. Please believe me when I say I love everything about you that I was frustrated with. I’m going to help you. And just because I get frustrated, that doesn’t mean I don’t adore everything about you. I love you, warts and all. Especially the warts.”

“Ew, I don’t have warts, you have warts.” Tony scrunched his nose up but smiled anyway, bringing his hand to hold Chan’s cheek. “I missed you. And I love you, overly expensive plants and all.”

Chan leaned into Tony’s touch and chuckled softly at his boyfriend. “Good, because Mallory totally replaced the Monstera you murdered.”

“I’m sorry about that, again. I will try to remember to water your plants from now on. As long as you’re moving back in, that is.” Tony seemed shy when he said this, and Chan couldn’t help but tease.

“I think I’ll visit from time to time. For Aurora, that is.” Tony looked at him with wide eyes. “Yes, I’m moving back in.” Chan laughed as relief washed over Tony’s face and he sighed.

“Asshole. Just kiss me already.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed! don't forget to leave kudos & comment if you'd like :)


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